Transmission mechanism



April 2, 1935. G. c. CHASE TRANSMISSION MECHANISM Filed Jan. 17, 1934 3Sheets-Sheet l J K i7 /-3 55 Y sw-i @ulfi 0& Wm.

e% R s Y -c m 3 6f April G. c. CHASE TRANSMISSION MECHANISM Filed J'an.l7, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENYI'OR G cOg eCCh 0 ATT RNEY A ril 2,1935.

G. c. CHASE TRANSMISSION MECHANISM Filed Jan. 17, 1934 s Sheets-S heet 3INIVENT OR Geo/99 C. Chase.

BY pm ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 2, 1935 UNITED STATES TRANSMISSIONMECHANISM George 0. Chase, South Monroe Calculating Orange, N. J.,assignor to Machine Company, Or-

ange, N. J., a corporation of Delaware Application January 17 9 Claims.

The invention relates to transmission mechanism and to controlstherefor, and is useful as a reverse or as a change speed gearing oras aclutch controlled variable speed transmission.

The invention consists in the novelconstruction and combination ofparts, as set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention: I

Fig. 1 is an 'axial section taken through a reverse gear unit embodyingthe invention.

Fig. 2 is a. section on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing a modified form of reversegearing.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation showing a change lever and cycle lock controlfor the gearing illustrated in Fig. 1, the parts being shown in fullcycle position.

Fig. 5 is a similar view, illustrating the parts in mid-cycle position.

Fig. 6 is a similar view, showing the addition of an automatic returnmechanism.

The reversing gear herein illustrated is of the differential gear type,and more specifically of that form of differential gearing which may betermed orbital, 'as defined in my U. S. Patent 1,858,763, issued May 17,1932. As stated in this patent, orbital'g'earingimplies gearingincluding a member having rotary motion about its axis and also movingin an orbit. Still more specifically, the train consists of that varietyof orbital gearing described as entocyclic in my U. S. Patent 1,794,514issued March 3, 1931, and in Patent 1,828,180, issued to Clyde Gardneron October 20, 1931. The term entocyclic is intended.to distinguish fromepicyclic gearing, wherein characteristically a planet gear rolls arounda sun gear, whereas in entocyclic gearing the characteristic action isthe carrying of a gear in an orbit within 40 the circumference of aninternally toothed gear.

As shown in Fig. 1, the driving shaft I is provided with a concentricseat 2 and with an eccentric stud 3, upon which stud is mounted floatingpinion 8, provided with eight gear teeth. Upon the hub of pinion 8 ismounted an internally toothed gear l6 (which. may be supported, as shownin Fig. 1 upon a locking disk, hereinafter described), this gear havingsixteen internal gear teeth, lying in the plane of the teeth of pinion8. A gear member I! is mounted upon the concentric seat 2 of shaft l andis provided with an annular series of projections 4 (twelve in number),these projections meshing with'the teeth of pinion 8 and with the teethof internally toothed gear l6 as clearly shown in Fig. 2. Gear 1934,Serial No. 706,949

member 12 is also provided with circumferential gear teeth meshing witha pinion 5 on the driven shaft .6. A locking disk I is rigidly securedto the pinion 8 and a locking disk 9 to the internally toothed gear it,these disks being provided with 5 notches IOand H, (Figs. 4 and 5)adaptedto be engaged by a control lever as hereinafterdescribed to holdthe pinion or alternatively the internal toothed gear I6 againstrotation on their own axes;

Assuming shaft l to be rotating and pinion 8 to be heldagainst rotation,through engagement of its locking plate I, a single rotation of shaft lin a clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 2 will carry the center ofgear 8 about the axis of said shaft, and the eight teeth of said gear,meshing with the twelve projections 4 of gear member II will advancesaid gear member clockwise a distance of four teeth. This movement maybe'converted into one or more cycles of movement or into a partialcycle'of movement of the driven shaft 6 by providing any suitable gearratio between thegears l2 and 5. It may be noted that during thismovement gears IE will be advanced a distance of four teeth in aclockwise direction by the rolling movement thereof about the gear l2,and that it will also be carried an additional distance of four teeth bythe advancing movement of gear [2, this imparting a half rotation (idlemovement) to gear I6; Because of this half rotation two diametricallyspaced notches I I are provided in looking disk 9, so that one notchwill always stand in position, when the parts come to full cycleposition, to be engaged by the control lever l3. Because of theengagement of locking disk I by control lever l3, not only is clockwisemovement transmitted to driven shaft .6, but, as, the engaging tip ll ofsaid lever (Fig.

4) serves as a fulcrum for themovement imparted to the teeth of pinion8, these teeth will impart a substantially harmonically accelerated anddecelerated motion to gear l2 and thereby to'the driven parts. This isparticularly desirable in case some form of cyclically operated devicesare to be driven by shaft 6, the load being picked up gradually andbrought gradually to-rest at the end of the cycle.

In case shaft I is rotating clockwise and internal toothed gear I6 isheld by engagement of the control lever with one of the notches ll oflocking disk 9, the action of the sixteen teeth of gear 16 upon thetwelve teeth of gear member I 2 will advance said gear membercounterabove. During this movement the pinion 8 will be advanced by therolling engagement with projections 4 a distance of four teeth in acounterclockwise direction, and will also be advanced four teeth furtherby the movement of gear I2, thus making a complete revolution. Themotion transmitted to shaft 6 will be substantially harmonic in thiscase also.

A modified form of reverse gearing is shown in Fig. 3, wherein thefloating pinion I08 is offset from the internal tooth gear H6, in orderthat the gear member I I2 may be provided with gear teeth ofconventional form for engaging these two elements of the gear train. Theother parts of this modified mechanism correspond to the partsillustrated in Fig. l, and are designated by similar numerals in aserios beginning with the number IOI.

As seen in Fig. 4, control lever I3 is provided with two opposed tips "II and I5, for engaging either the notch III of locking disk I or one ofthe notches II of locking disk9. The disk which is not engaged by thecontrol lever I3,

upon rotation of the attached gear 8 or I6,

will be moved to bring a peripheral portion of the disk opposite thecorresponding finger of lever I3, whereby the opposite finger of thelever will be locked in engagement with the notch of its disk until theparts return to full cycle position. It may be noted that thesubstantially harmonic movement of gear I2, above-explained, will betransmitted harmonically, through gear I6 or pinion 8, to the rotatablelocking disk 9 or I, so that the notch H or ID of said disk will moveslowly through its position of engagement I with the tip I5 or I4 oflever I3. Consequently,

the lever may be thrown from one engaging position to the other toreverse the direction of drive, at any point within a full-cycle zone ofconsiderable extent.

It will be noted that during the rotation of the parts the locking disks'1 and 9 will be carried around the axis of shaft I, and lever I3 willbe correspondingly rocked. vIn order to provide a manual shift lever Hwhich will notbe affected by the rocking movement of lever I3, thislever I1 is provided with a pawl I8 adapted to engage with a tooth I9 ofcontrol lever I3 and a spring 20 connects pawl I8 with an extension 2Iof control lever I3. Therefore, lever I3 may be thrown from one of itsactive positions to another, as indicated by the full, and by the dottedlines in Fig. 4, pawl I8 engaging one or the other face of the tooth I 9for this purpose, and in either of these two positions lever I3 may beoscillated without moving lever I! and without throwing the tooth I9 tothe opposite side of pawl I8. As seen in Fig. 4, the movement of pawl I8from one position to the other, carries spring 20 across the fulcrum 22of lever I3, whereby the spring action of the parts is improved.

This arrangement admits of throwing the hand lever II during any part ofthe cycle of operation, the locking plate I or the locking plate 9serving to hold the parts in their previously adjusted positionuntil,for instance, the end of the.

cycle, at which time, hand lever I! having been thrown and the point ofpawl I8 standing just beyond the tooth of lever I3, the latter leverwill be thrown into its reverse position. In other words, the hand levermay be thrown at any time, and the parts will complete the currentoperation and will then move in response to the new setting of the handlever. This is not only of considerable convenience where the controllever I3 is to be adjusted by hand, but is also of great value in casethat it is desired to throw lever I3 automatically during the operationof the driven parts.

Means whereby the lever Il may be automatically adjusted from oneposition to the other is illustrated in Fig. 6, wherein said lever isprovided with a forked extension 23 provided with teeth 24 and 25, lyingupon opposite sides of driven shaft 28 (said shaft being hereillustrated as operated from shaft 6). Tooth members 26 and 21 are shownas slidably keyed upon shaft 6, being movable by any desired means intothe planes of the teeth 24 and 25, respectively.

Assuming that the gears I2 and 5 provide for a single cycle of operationof shaft 6 for each rotation of the driving shaft I, the tooth 26 willengage the tooth 24 of fork 23 in mid-cycle position of the parts, whenthe former tooth is slid into active position, while if tooth 21 is slidinto active position it will likewise engage tooth 25 of fork 23 in themid-cycle position of the parts. Engagement of tooth 26 with tooth 24will throw lever II into its right hand position as viewed in Fig. 6 andtherefore at the end of the cycle will engage the tip Id of lever I3with the plate 1. Likewise upon engagement of tooth 21 with tooth 25,lever I! will be thrown to its left hand position, and at the end of thecycle the tip I5 of lever I3 will be thrown into engagement with plate9. Obviously there are many mechanisms capable of exerting a controllingmovement during the cycle but not adapted to exert such a control atfull cycle position, and the present mechanism is well adapted torespond to such a control.

I claim:

1. Transmission mechanism including a driving member, a driven member, atrain of entocyclic gearing between said members, a notched plate fixedto one element of said train, a lever adjustable to engage said notchand cooperate with the gearing to convert constant speed motion of thedriving member into cyclic variable speed'motion of the driven member,and a plate fixed to one element of the gearing train and operablethereby to lock the lever in adjusted position during each cycle ofmovement of the driven member.

2. Transmission mechanism including a shaft and a train of orbitalgearing supported therefrom and comprising an internally toothed gear, apinion, and a driven gear element provided with an annular series oflateral projections surrounding said shaft, each projection meshing withthe teeth of the internally toothed gear and with the teeth of thepinion.

3. Transmission mechanism for cyclically operated devices, including atrain of differential gearing, a lever adjustable into engagement withan element of said train to control the differential action thereof, anda cyclically driven locking member operable to intermittently hold thelever in adjusted position.

4. Transmission mechanism for cyclically 0perated devices, including atrain of differential gear, a lever adjustable into engagement with anelement of said train to control the differential action thereof, acyclically driven locking member operable to intermittently hold thelever in disengaged position, a spring device adjustable to urge saidlever into engaging position,'and adjustment means for said deviceoperable independently of the locking member.

5. Transmission mechanism for cyclically operated devices, including atrain of difierential gearing, a forked lever oppositely adjustable intoengagement with one element or alternatively with another element ofsaid train to control the differential action thereof cyclically drivenlock ing members operable to intermittently hold the lever in the one orthe other adjusted position, a spring device adjustable to urge saidlever into the one or the other engaging "position, and ad-- justmentmeans for said device operable independently of the locking members.

6. Transmission mechanism for cyclically operated devices, including atrain of differential gearing, a lever adjustable into engagement withan element of said train to control the differential action thereof, acyclically driven locking member operable to intermittently hold thelever in disengaged position, a spring device adjustable to urge saidlever into engaging position, and a cyclically driven member operable toadjust said device with the locking member in holding position.

7. Transmission mechanism including a driving shaft, a driven member, atrain of intermediate entocyclic gearing supported from said shaft andincluding a floating gear mounted eccentrically of said shaft, a clutchplate rigidly fixed to said gear, and a clutch lever adjustable I toengage said plate.

8. Transmission mechanism including a shaft, a train of entocyclicgearing supported therefrom and comprising a floating internally toothedgear mounted eccentrically of said shaft, a clutch plate rigidly fixedto said gear, and a spring-pressed lever adjustable to engage the notchof said plate.

GEORGE C. CHASE.

